When you go through the valley...

"If you are going through hell, keep going."
-Winston Churchill

Trials, tribulations, burdens, adversity, hard times, "seasons", "valleys", etc.- all these words essentially denote the same time or feeling that everyone encounters at some point in life. Have you ever stopped to think about why we go through these periods? Oh, we all immediately respond with deep, philosophical replies, turned cliche of- "it's character building, because what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" or "we all have to go through valleys to get to the mountains" and on the cycle goes. However, these remarks have seemed to turn into an excuse rather than an answer, a denial of reality that trials hurt, that when we go through hard times in our lives that we are mad, frustrated, and just plain hurting inside. In this day and age we are called to deny our emotions and press on! However, have we ever stopped to think that, because God is a purposeful God, that He really does put trials in our lives for a REAL reason? Every part of our body is there for a purpose - our eyes to see, our ears to hear- He even has a put an innate sense of a need for a relationship with another human being deep within us, and the list goes on. If He had a reason for all the things He gave us and placed in us, would you not think that things we go through are also for a purpose? I believe one of God's main purposes for these seasons is trust. Especially nowadays, but always, man has had a tendency to attempt to be self-sufficient. However, we cannot depend on ourselves, because we are nothing without Him. In these trials, and always, there is only one true and steadfast place, God. During trials we are totally disarmed. During trials we have but one choice - to run to the mercy seat with broken hearts and open arms. During trials God's all-sufficient grace, love, joy, and peace are the only things that will bring us along and carry us through to victory in Christ Jesus. The prospect seems a little better, doesn't it? To fling oneself into the loving arms of Christ with no inhibitions, because we have nowhere else to turn. It's seems better to me. TRUST - it is all in one word. If we would but trust Him - is He not the One who made us? Could we not but place our lives back into His hands and trust Him wholeheartedly? We have to have a firm grasp of this - to really know that He does have a purpose for everything. We have to know this, not just in our heads, but deep in our hearts, otherwise, life loses purpose altogether. He does have a plan, a great and glorious plan for our lives, if we would but trust Him with the life that He gives. May we trust Him when it is the hardest and when it hurts the most, so that we may grow and come to know his character more and more. What a loving, merciful, caring, all-sufficient Father we have.